Professional Engineer Elaine Biddiss: Shouts of “Go girl”

A crowd of as many as 500 people filled the William Lea Room Tuesday night (April 28, 2015) for the information meeting organized by Councillor Burnside on the  redevelopment of Sunnybrook Plaza. It was a crowd feeling hostile towards the property’s owner RioCan. Many of them were armed and dangerous in a debating sense.

Elaine Biddiss, a youthful professional engineer and mother made a smack down type of presentation in five areas where she said the developer fell short of the City’s expectations. She spoke on her own behalf and as the first resident to “ask questions” she volunteered a couple times to sit down but was greeted with applause and shouts of “Go girl”.

RioCan has proposed to build a two-tower development — 19 and 13 storeys — on the site of the old strip mall. It would have parking for 420 vehicles at both ground level and underground. There are retail spaces at ground level and rental and condominiums as the floors count up. The City’s planner, John Andreesky, and a staff member from the traffic department, were pressed to keep up with the concerns.

Ms Biddiss noted RioCan’s failure to present a plan with mid-rise height towers (eight storeys) and instead ask the City “to dissolve” two bylaws and amend zoning permissions. It was a theme heard from a number of speakers. Some said they had been hood-winked into cooperating in the early stages of a concept with no idea plans would show such high towers. Biddiss enumerated a failure to accept heritage guidelines and instead offer glass towers, to cut retail space by nearly half, to try to install 700 new tenants and no new jobs and to fail to make a serious effort at including parkland.

Midway through this presentation Biddiss struck on the city traffic planning and seemed to suggest that estimates of traffic in 2030 were inadequate. Mr. Andreesky conceded this was an area needing work.  He unloosed a bit of a bombshell among north-end residents when he said City staff were recommending the elimination of right turns from westbound Eglinton onto northbound Bayview. The purpose seemed aimed at moving traffic and perhaps finding necessary sidewalk outside the development. This news caused two or three residents north of  Eglinton to shout out that the City was  “cutting off my neighborhood”.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Burnside told the Bulldog he “was encouraged by the large crowd. And the fact that the community spoke with a united voice in their opposition.” He said he was impressed by the high level of knowledge ‎of the speakers as well as the fact that everyone stayed focused on the most important issues “I’m confident our City Planner got the message and hope that RioCan did too.” Many well known people were present. Geoff Kettel and former East York Mayor Alan Redway were seen.